Members of the Otero family listen to testimony describing the 1974 murders of four of their relatives at the sentencing hearing.

By Bo Rader, Getty Images

Rader, who probably will be sentenced Thursday for his 10 slayings between 1974 and 1991, hid what he called his "mother lode" — a file drawer of notes, newspaper clips, death-scene diagrams and other evidence — in his office at work, said Wichita Police Detective Kelly Otis. For years, Rader, 60, was dogcatcher and code enforcement officer in Park City, a Wichita suburb.

During the first day of Rader's sentencing hearing, Otis and six other detectives testified in gruesome detail about crimes that Rader called "projects," or "PJs" for short. They said Rader gave each victim a nickname — some of them cryptic and others playing on words: "PJ Fox Tail" for Nancy Fox, "PJ Waterfall" for Shirley Vian's home on Hydraulic Street, and "PJ Little-Mex" for the pre-teen daughter of a Hispanic family, the Oteros, who were his first four victims in 1974.

'BTK' timeline

Major events in the "BTK" killings case:

Jan. 15, 1974: Joseph Otero, 38, and his wife, Julie, 34, are strangled in their home along with two of their children, Josephine, 11, and Joseph II, 9.

April 4, 1974: Kathryn Bright, 21, is stabbed and strangled in her home. Her brother, Kevin, survives a gunshot wound to the head. Police later conclude she was a BTK victim.

March 17, 1977: Shirley Vian, 26, is found tied up and strangled in her home.

Dec. 8, 1977: Nancy Fox, 25, is found tied up and strangled in her home. The killer's voice is captured on tape when he calls a dispatcher to report the crime.

Sept. 16, 1986: Vicki Wegerle, 28, is strangled in her home.

Feb. 25, 2005: Dennis Rader is arrested. Besides the eight slayings already attributed to BTK, he is charged with the killings of Marine Hedge, 53, in April 1985 and Dolores Davis, 62, in January 1991.

June 27, 2005: Rader pleads guilty to 10 counts of murder.

Aug. 17, 2005: Sentencing hearing begins.

Source: The Associated Press

As three surviving Otero siblings and other victims' family watched in the courtroom, Sedgwick County prosecutors led the detectives through graphic retellings of each "BTK" murder, short for the "Bind, Torture, Kill" nickname Rader gave himself. Photos of the crime scenes and Rader's statements to police were projected on a large screen.

Rader, who pleaded guilty to all 10 deaths in June, had waived his right for the hearing. But District Attorney Nola Foulston insisted on presenting details of each case to bolster the case for maximum life sentences and no parole. Judge Gregory Waller will decide whether Rader will serve 10 life sentences consecutively or concurrently. He cannot get the death penalty because Kansas did not have capital punishment at the time of the murders.

The hearing should conclude today with statements from the victims' family and possibly a statement by Rader.

In more than 30 hours of police questioning after Rader was arrested Feb. 25, detectives said Rader gave detailed accounts of the murders dating back more than three decades without emotion, apology or remorse. "It was like we were talking over a coffee," Otis said, "as if he were relaying a fishing story."

Among the grisly new revelations:

• In his first killings, Rader strangled Joseph Otero, 38, then suffocated 9-year-old Joseph Otero Jr. in front of the boy's mother. After killing her, too, Rader took the couple's 11-year-old daughter, Josephine, to the basement for "my encore." He choked and hanged her from a sewer pipe, then masturbated as she struggled and cried for her mother.

Getty Images

Dennis Rader, Aug. 17

In one emotional moment, prosecutors displayed Rader's own words that the girl was "my primary target." He told detectives that when Josephine asked what would happen to her, "I said, 'Well, honey, you're going to be in heaven tonight with the rest of your family.' "

• Rader, once a Cub Scout leader and president of his Lutheran church congregation, slipped away from overnight scout outings to kill his last two victims. Neither killing was connected to the serial murderer until BTK resurfaced last year with taunting messages to police and news media.

• Rader wrote out how each victim would serve him in the spirit world after death. He labeled them "AFCV," short for "Afterlife Concept of Victim." He imagined Joseph Otero as a bodyguard, Shirley Vian as a house servant, Vicki Wegerle as a "slave bondage woman," Kathryn Bright as a "sex bondage girl" and Josephine Otero as "my star young maiden."

AP

Josephine Otero

• Rader compared himself to a John Wayne-style gunslinger when he had to fire his gun in the Bright attack and to secret agent James Bond as "spiffy" in a tweed sport coat when he talked his way into Vian's home. He also disguised himself as a phone repairman to assault Wegerle.

• Rader took pictures of himself in bondage poses, wearing his victims' underwear. He also drew elaborate diagrams for torture devices he hoped to use on future victims, including a coffin-like chamber to slowly suffocate victims. He bound his victims with his rope and electrical tape or whatever else was at hand, from pantyhose to nightgowns.

The Wichita Eagle via AP

Six of the 10 people killed by BTK serial killer. In the top row are, from left, Julie Otero; Kathryn Bright; and Shirley Vian. In the bottom row are, from left, Marine Hedge, Vicki Wegerle and Dolores Davis.

• Pretending to be a police detective, Rader showed a photo of his own wife and son to 6-year-old Steven Relford in a ruse to find out where the boy lived. Rader later killed Relford's mother, Vian, as the boy and his brother and sister screamed from a bathroom where Rader had locked them. He gave the children a toy airplane, fire truck and van — all displayed on the witness stand Wednesday — as he tried to occupy them while he killed their mother.

Throughout Wednesday's testimony, Rader watched without emotion.

After the hearing, the three surviving Otero children said all they could do was try to cope. Now "I don't have to imagine what went down," Danny Otero said. "I know what went down."

His sister, Carmen Otero, added, "It was really difficult to hear my mother speaking to (Rader) and my sister's last words. But if you stay angry, it's going to eat you up inside. I have children and grandchildren now." During today's court session, "I'm going to let everyone know what my family was all about."